[Correlation between placental perfusion measured in the entire placenta versus assessed by sonobiopsy]

Placental perfusion can be evaluated using three-dimensional power-Doppler (3DPD) indices with sonobiopsy acquisition in a sphere or throughout the entire placenta.

We aimed to explore the relation between these two measurement methods.

A prospective cohort study was conducted among normal pregnant women recruited at 11 to 40 gestational weeks. Placental vascularization was evaluated using the 3DPD indices (vascularization index [VI]; flow index [FI]; vascularization flow index [VFI]) with the application of the sphere ultrasound technique or scanned from the entire placenta.

A total of 150 women were recruited at a mean gestational age of 20.8 ± 7.22 weeks. We observed that scanned 3DPD indices using sphere technique decrease by gestational age between 11 and 40 weeks, whereas whole placental volume scanning yielded stable, non-decreasing indices during gestation. The indices were correlated to each other at least moderately, irrespectively of the method of scanning (r≥0.30).

As gestation advances, less and less placentas can be visualized in one sweep for a whole view and at late period of gestation only a minority of placentas can be visualized as a whole.

3DPD indices acquired in a sphere of the placenta at umbilical cord insertion may reflect more to the decreasing vascularity of the exponentially growing placenta during gestation. Hence, sphere technique may have a greater screening opportunity in pathological pregnancies. Orv Hetil. 2023; 164(8): 300-307.